Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The We Divest Campaign Against TIAA-CREF: Hubris and Arrogance

After an intense three year campaign against investment giant TIAA-CREF, the “We Divest” alliance of associated Israeli-haters, including Adalah-NY, the American Friends Service Committee, (AFSC) Grassroots International, Jewish Voice for Peace, (JVP) the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, and the US Palestinian Community Network has convinced 200 plan participants to sign their petition. That's not a typo.

That's 200 out of 3.7 million participants.

0074 %. Less than 1/100 of 1 percent of TIAA- CREF shareholders. 74 people per million

The hubris and arrogance is breath-taking, yet is representative of the modus operandi of the BDS movement in general. A tiny minority- a fringe of the fringe- attempts to hijack the agenda a large community institution, and to bully them into compliance. Anna Baltzer has issued a press release condemning the investment giant for its refusal to set aside its fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders to advance her bigoted political agenda. Steve Tamari of the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee claims “TIAA-CREF has not only ignored our moral concerns, but now refuses to let us vote or have any voice on the issue."

No, Steve. No, Anna. The leadership at TIAA-CREF has listened to your voices. They've taken your phone calls. They've received your petitions. They've responded to your Tweets. They've rolled their collective eyeballs at your flash mobs and lame attempts at street theater. And still the answer is NO. They heard your arguments, and they've rejected them.